


Naiad

by Party_City_Worms



Category: The Legend of Zelda & Related Fandoms
Genre: Ambiguous Character Death, Babies, Canon-Typical Violence, Fairies, Fluff and Angst, Hurt/Comfort, Hyrule-Centric, Linked Universe (Legend of Zelda), bug tw, but like... bug babies., for those that need that, god i hoped i tagged everyone, sort of., title currently sucks and i am VERY open to suggestions
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-10-14
Updated: 2021-02-14
Packaged: 2021-03-08 20:41:46
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 6
Words: 13,981
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27002932
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Party_City_Worms/pseuds/Party_City_Worms
Summary: Hyrule is missing, and the others are worried for his well being as more and more signs start to crop up, pointing at a grim conclusion. But they're determined to find him, they refuse to give up on their friend. However... the searching may be a bit... delayed.... seeing as the group has come into possession of a lost fairy infant, and Time is determined to find the little one's mother as well as Hyrule. They can juggle both. Right? And Hyrule will be fine.Right?
Relationships: Four & Hyrule & Legend & Sky & Time & Twilight & Warriors & Wild & Wind (Linked Universe), Hyrule & Legend (Linked Universe)
Comments: 58
Kudos: 147





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

  * For [atrillies](https://archiveofourown.org/users/atrillies/gifts).



Hyrule had been missing for a few days at that point.

That point being, when things became that much more of a mess.

___

"We should kill it, that's what we should do!"

"But it's so cute, you'd have to be heartless-"

"It's obviously a monster, can't you see that-"

Time had gotten tired of hearing Four and Sky yell at eachother in the distance, not when this was valuable time that they could be spending looking for their missing team member.

"What are you two yelling about?" Time asked, raising an eyebrow as he walked over.

"Oh," Sky said, perking up, "While me and Four were coming back from searching,"

"We found that..." Four wrinkling his nose in disgust, pointing his foot at a small brown creature on the ground. "...thing."

"Isn't it adorable?" Sky asked, lifting it up to show Time.

It was a brown and pink bug, seeming to be having trouble breathing. It looked terrified, only about half a foot long and looking absolutely starved. It had six legs, chunky fangs sticking out of it's mouth, small spikes littering it's carapace, and it was...

Time's eyes widened, and gently but forcibly grabbed the tiny creature out of Sky's hands, and began to pull out some water.

"You like it too? See, I was telling Four that-"

Time silenced them by pouring water down the little creature's body.

Four gave a disgusted expression. "Uh... what are you doing to it?"

"Don't you see?" Time asked worriedly, pressing the large bug creature close to his chest in a soft hug. "The poor thing..."

"No I do not see, stop hugging it it's probably rabid-"

"She isn't an it, she's just a little baby..."

"A baby what?"

"A baby fairy, of course. She's a little on the big end though, she must be so scared... Follow me, she's gonna need to be in water and-"

"No thanks," Four cut him off, "I'm going to keep looking."

"Fine, Sky, you go with him, the baby will be safe with me."

___

Wild and Twilight walked back in a shaky, solemn silence, not having the motivation to walk faster though they really knew they should.

"Are we positive that was his stuff?" Wild asked, his voice quiet, despite no one being around to listen in.

"I'm positive."

"But-"

Twilight cut him off. "It smelled like him, it's what we've seen him use... It was his."

While they had been searching for Hyrule, Twilight tracking his scent, they had stumbled across a small merchant stall just outside of town.

There, lain within soft fabrics, were some of Hyrule's belongings.

They had tried to haggle with the seller, ask him where he found it.

"Oh, I chased off some monsters from looting it! They fought me tooth and nail, but I managed to scare em off and took what they left behind."

Exchanging uneasy glances, they made a silent agreement not to tell him they belonged to a friend of theirs. They knew how it would go. It would only drive the price up more.

After much angered bartering, the two left empty handed, forcing the merchant to hold to his word that he would keep the items on hold until they returned the next evening with the money.

"You don't think maybe he just dropped the stuff and ran, do you?" Asked Wild, trying to break the silence.

"Why would he leave behind any of that, most of all his sword? It would leave hin defenseless."

"...I know you're right, I just wish you weren't." Wild looked towards the sky, as the sun began to set into the earth. The orange light felt oddly eerie and alone. "There's still a chance he's still just doing fine though, right? He gets lost sometimes, and-" Stopping himself, he shook his head. "Nevermind. Worrying won't help, you said that you think you have enough rupees?"

"Mhm. I believe so, if not, together we should have enough."

Upon arriving in camp, Twilight and Wild were greeted with Time frantically fretting over the cooking pot, despite it not being on the fire.

Wild snorted. "Uh, Time, you do know how to cook, right?"

Time quickly glared up at Wild, with an unexpectely angered panic in his eye. 

"Er-"

"This isn't food, and-" He quickly lifted a large bug out of the water, "I'm sorry, it's just that she keeps choking and I'm not sure on what."

"What kind of bug is that?" Twilight asked with curiosity, stepping forward to get a better look.

"A fairy."

Judging by Twilight and Wild's confused silence, Time realized he would have to elaborate more.

"Just a little baby, or, rather large, baby... Four and Sky found her on the ground just outside camp," he said, watching as the poor thing gently nibbled on his fingers. "I have no idea how she survived this long away from her mother, or from any water. I... may have used the rest of the clean water we had so she'd have something to breathe in, but I think something's wrong with it."

Twilight tilted his head. "How so?"

"I put her in, and after around... ten minutes or so, she started to choke and sputter, like she couldn't breath. I took her out for a little bit and it helped until she needed to be back in again, which wasn't long. It's been going like this for a while now."

Twilight hummed, and reached out his hand. "Let me see her, then." 

"No!" Time said, pulling the fairy baby even closer, causing it to start making tiny crying sounds. "Ah- oh... I'm sorry little one."

Wild snorted, unable to take him seriously, before suddenly remembering what they came back for.

"Time?"

"Yes?"

"We have... news. Bad news."

Gently placing the fairy in his lap, Time took a deep breath, and stared at them. "Go ahead, then."

Twilight and Wild exchanged a glance, and began to tell Time what had happened at the market.

By the time they had finished, Time's face had fallened into a mournful frown, hope having left his eyes.

"...We came back to get more rupees," Twilight explained, sighing deeply. "The merchant said he would hold the items for us until tommorow evening, once everyone gets back we should share the news."

\---

Legend wasn't having a good time.

No one was, really, not ever since Hyrule was missing.

But Legend knew something even more concerning to worry about. And that he felt partially responsible for the younger hero, due to preceding him on the timeline.

Maybe two weeks before Hyrule went missing, Hyrule had opened up about something.

Something concerning his blood.

There was a cult chasing Hyrule.

A cult of monsters, specifically, though Legend noted to himself that any human willing to join such a cult was a monster in and of themself.

A cult of monsters that worked for Ganon, who needed Hyrule's blood to revive their master.

It certainly explained the cleaning frenzies Hyrule would fly into if he got a drop of blood anywhere (Legend felt guilty for ever teasing him for not being able to handle blood despite being a hero), but it only made them more concerning.

And now, Hyrule had gone missing without a trace.

He was on a mission looking for the lost hero, he, Wind, and Warriors.

He was just grateful that Wind was taking this seriously, knowing that the youngest hero had a habit of doing the exact opposite of that, cracking jokes in the worst of situations.

And while, sure, Wind had told a few jokes near the beginning, he had gotten more solemn as time went on.

The three of them had gone even farther in their searching then before, branching out from the typical places Hyrule liked (caves, up in trees, forests) to places Hyrule generally wouldn't go near (open fields, by the water, close to towns).

But it was getting late, and if they hadn't turned to go back when they did, they'd be counted as lost as well.

When they arrived at camp, Sky was buzzing with excitement hovering around an equally excited Time, who himself had his hands stuck inside the cooking pot. Wild and Twi were were talking to eachother quietly, sorting rupees, and Four sat far from the group, shoulders hunched together, muttering something under his breath at the ground.

"Did you have any luck?" Twi asked, not looking up from his task.

"No," Warriors answered with a sigh, shaking his head. "I assume you didn't either?"

"Well..."

Legend felt his heart rise.

"We found something, but nothing good."

His heart crashed back down almost instantly.

"Wild and I... well, we managed to find our way to a little market at the outskirts of a nearby town, and they had Hyrule's stuff."

His heart sunk yet again.

"Said he looted it from some monsters."

That was enough of hearing Twilight basically give him the news that Hyrule was almost certainly dead, and if not, defenseless and being harassed by monsters, for Legend to hear tonight, so he decided he would loudly complain instead. "So, did you buy it? Or were you-"

"Legend, this isn't the time-"

"Oh I'll bitch at you if I want to-"

"Legend, just shut up-"

The sound of weird, strangled, tiny crying cut him off.

"What was that?"

"Oh, you made her cry!" Sky said in a cooing baby talk voice, turning to face Legend with a stern but also pathetically exaggerated pout. 

Time on the other hand, seemed more seriously angered. "Stop the yelling you two," he said, lifting a large and strange looking bug out of the pot, "this is, well, we haven't decided what to call her yet, but she's a little baby fairy Sky and Four found, I was going to see if any of you wanted to help me search for her mother tommorow."

"Hyrule is missing, there's no time to-"

The little creature cried harder.

"I told you to stop yelling! Fairies are very sensitive to emotions, and she's already terrified."

Legend stared at the baby fairy, and it stared back at him with wide eyes, stopping it's crying.

Sky looked delighted. "Aww, I think she likes you!"

"Er-" Legend cringed back as Sky took the baby from Time's arms and shoved it into his own.

The little thing tightly clung to Legend's tunic, making tiny happy chirps.

Sky couldn't have possibly been smiling any wider, but Time on the other hand looked displeased. "We shouldn't be letting anyone and everyone hold her-"

"Come on, you're just saying that because your jealous she likes both me and Legend better than you!"

"I- no, I'm not, I just-"

As Time gave his increasingly flustered responses, Legend looked down at it. It was oddly cute, if you ignored the gross lumps all over it's face and body, and the too big for it's mouth teeth (though, the more he looked at it, the cuter it seemed).

"Ew," Wind interrupted, suppressing laughter, "it looks gross."

"She's not an it,"

"Well how do you know it's a girl? Is it because it's pink? That's rude of you," snorted Wind, pleased with his jokes, "I thought you were better then that!"

Time sighed deeply. "Well, she's a fairy, and fairies sexes don't work the same as yours and mine, the majority of fairies consider themselves female, despite-"

"I don't care, actually, but I think you should ask him."

"Wind. She's an infant, she can't respond."

Wind wrinkled his nose. "Boo. Anyways, what should we name it?"

"Alright, name ideas?"

Sky went first. "I think we should name her Scarlet." 

"That name sucks, name him George instead."

"No, Wind."

"What about Lily? Like a lilypad, since she's gotta be in the water."

"Sky, stop suggesting things, you've already had your turn."

"That's a good start though, maybe something else water related?"

The group began to muse name ideas, mostly just Sky, but also Wind giving absolutely terrible names (What do you mean they can't name it 'Wind Jr, Destroyer of the seas'?), and the occasional attempt to get Four to join in, to which he stared at them with a disgusted look and inched further away each time, until finally they decided on a name

"What abouttt..." Sky trailed on, out of ideas.

"Cranberry, maybe?" Twilight suggested, sighing. "Those are red. And... like being watery."

Legend tilted his head in consideration. It was cute. A little cranberry baby.

Everyone (excluding Four) nodded to themselves.

"So no one has any problems with the name Cranberry?" Time asked, eye darting to the pot of water where the little fairy began to choke on the water again.

"No." "Nope." "I like it!"

And as Time gently lifted her out of the water, the newly named Cranberry reached her little legs towards Legend.

"Cranberry it is, then."


	2. Chapter 2

The rest of the day passed less painfully slow then the previous ones, though it was only a minor improvement. Legend contributed his funds to the 'buy Hyrule's stuff' fund, outwardly complaining that now he was broke, but inwardly ready to sell the rest of his belongings if they didn't have enough.

Cranberry certainly did like him a lot, giving her best cries when he put her back down into the water, much to his dismay.

"Why does she even like me that much?" Legend grumbled, lifting her out of the pot and offering her a piece of his tunic to chew on.

"Well," Time started, "She's a pink little fairy, her mother would have to be a similar shade... maybe you remind her of her?"

Four made an audible gagging sound from where he sat far away, his face pale.

"Stop being mean to the baby, Four!" Sky scolded, turning around to look at him.

"It's... ugh, that's what it is. Keep it away from me."

Sky turned his nose up at Four. "Don't listen to him, little Cran, he's just mad that he's ugly and you're the cutest thing in the world."

"When did you even start loving bugs so much?"

"For your information, I've loved bugs since I was little, I have a bunch of pet beetles back in Skyloft. Since when did you start hating bugs so much?"

Four blinked, and looked back down at the ground with a sour expression. "That doesn't matter."

"Nor does your opinion, so shut up."

"Whatever," Four muttered, looking away, "just keep it away from me and I'll be happy."

___

Wild regretted taking the night shift.

Time had stressed the importance that he not only keep an eye out for danger, but also keep an eye on Cranberry to ensure she wouldn't drown. 

He assumed this would be a simple task he would only have to do every hour or so.

It seemed that every five minutes, the tiny thing began to choke and sputter on the water, flailing all its arms and legs, until he reached in and took her out, to which she was even more terrified, and tried to wiggle free from his grasp.

He'd wanted this time to be able to think things over and try to think of places Hyrule could be, but instead he was playing baby rescue. 

Sure Cran' was cute-ish, but he just didn't see the appeal. She was kind of gross looking, to be honest. 

But she was still just a helpless little baby, and his empathy couldn't help but care.

As he set Cranberry back down into the water, he rubbed the tiredness from his eyes.

From how she had reacted so positively to Legend, maybe it would become mandatory that whoever was watching her should wear red. 

Yeah, that seemed like a good idea.

He sighed and took a moment to look up to the endless expanse of the stars.

And then at the figure in the sky that circled overhead.

"That better not be what I think it is," muttered Wild, narrowing his eyes. "Don't even think about it."

But unlike Twilight, Wild didn't speak animal, so his words didn't get through to the bird.

It circled for a bit longer, and just as Wild slowly reached for his bow to shoot it out of the sky, it made a dive downwards.

Right at Cranberry.

Thinking quick, Wild made the jump to try and grab the bird out of the air, before it grabbed Cranberry, heart pounding wildly and knowing guilt (and the others) would get to him if he let the hawk win, and then-

With a sudden crack, the neck of the hawk was snapped, and Cranberry let out a delighted noise as she let it go.

Wild's mouth hung open in shock, a strangled yelp escaping, watching as Cranberry began to use her tiny teeth to tear into the bird's flesh.

It was with that that Wild realized they had forgotten to feed her. "Um... I guess.... you were hungry, huh?"

"Wild? What happened?"

Wild jumped at the voice, turning to see a tired but alert Four standing behind him.

"Oh- uhhh...."

"Is... is that a bird?"

"...Yes."

"Did. Did the bug kill it?"

"...Yes."

Four shuddered and didn't respond.

"It was trying to kill her and then-"

"I'm going back to bed."

"...That's fair. G...goodnight."

___

By the time morning had come, Cranberry had almost eaten the entire bird, feathers, bones, and all.

It was a bit gruesome to watch, but fascinating nonetheless.

Time was first to rise, and he instantly made his way over to where Wild watched her.

"How did it go- er-"

"That was a bird that tried to eat Cran. Now it's her midnight snack."

Time looked horrified. "We forgot to-"

"Yeah, I know. I was gonna maybe cut up an apple for her but she still hasn't finished."

Time bit his lip and frowned. "You should probably take the remains away from her, before she chokes on the bones." 

"Probably," Wild remarked, reaching his hand into the pot to take it away.

He was met with a sharp nip on the finger.

"No, bad baby!" Wind scolded, and tried again, only to receive another nip and angry noises as she gently slapped his hands.

Turning to look at Time, he gave him a pleading look. "Can you do it instead?"  
Time frowned, "I don't understand why she's being so overprotective of it... Come here, lil berry," he reached to pull her out of the water, to which she began to cry and sputted loudly, twisting back and forth to try and bite Time's hands. "There, you can take it out now."

Wild reached into the pot, which now was water mixed with blood and feathers, to pull out the carcass. Wrinkling his nose, he lay it on the ground beside him.

Surprisingly, Sky was awake next, just in time to see the mess of feather and bone laying on the ground.

"Oh no!" He gasped in horror, voice trembling. "What happened to that poor bird?"

"The bird was hungry. Cran was also hungry."

Sky continued to be upset, meanwhile the others began to rise from their slumber.

They gathered around for breakfast (of which Wild pointedly complained that a certain little bug was taking up their cooking pot, so everyone, including the bug, got to eat just apples instead), and then Twilight nodded to Four to follow him to go to the merchant.

"What, did you forget about me?" Wild asked, only half joking in his offense.

"You had watch last night, and Four wants to get out of camp anyways. You can stay here and rest while we buy Hyrule's stuff."

___

"Alright, for now we should split into two teams. One to continue the search for Hyrule, and the other to look for Cranberry's mom. But first, do we have any volunteers to stay behind and take care of Cran?"

The remaining links glanced at each other to Time's words, before Wind raised his hand.

"I could-"

"No."

Wind looked horribly offended. "What do you mean no? I'm responsible."

"Maybe so, but I worry that all your," Time motioned at all of Wind, "energy, you'll overwhelm her."

"Rude. I'd be the coolest big bug brother."

"Any other volunteers? I'd prefer to stay and watch her as well, but seeing as I have the most experience locating fairy fountains..."

Legend took a deep sigh, and raised his hand. "I'll watch her."

"Sounds good," Time nodded, and looked to Warriors and Sky. "You two look for Hyrule, me and Wind will look for nearby fairy fountains. Alright?"

"Alright."

___

Twilight and Four walked their way to where the merchant had been the previous day, both of them still tired from having woken up so early and with so little breakfast.

"I don't get why everyone is so insistent that we should keep that bug around," Four muttered, kicking a rock as he walked. "It's just wasting our time. If we keep it around any longer-"

"Four."

"...Yeah, yeah. Whatever. So, are we almost there?"

"Almost."

After more walking in silence, they arrived at the stand, and the merchant's eyes glimmered. 

"I see you brought the rupees, I didn't think you'd have enough."

"I told you we'd have them. Do you still have the items?"

"Yes, yes. You're very lucky to be getting this sword, it's rather decorative and someone else had seemed interested if the current buyer fell through..."

"Don't get any ideas," Twilight growled, "We had a deal."

The merchant eyed him up and down, before reaching under his stand and pulling out a bundle of items. "Here they are, as we agreed."

Twilight opened it slightly to ensure that they were all there, and nodded. "Thank you. Here..." He placed the parcel on the table, "Are the rupees."

Four paused as he watched, before thinking of something. "Could you tell us exactly where you found these items?"

"Of course, it was near the river to the north, by an outcropping of rocks with a single tree growing on it, allow me to point it out on a map..."

___

By a river to the north, near an outcropping of rocks, Time and Wind took time to pause by a tree, when they noticed a splattering of blood on the ground lead into a cave.

Time hesiated. 

"Sh...should we go in?" Asked Wind nervously, taking note of the trampled grass that surrounded them.

Time stared at the cave entrance, it seemed to have once been covered by leaves and vines, but they were slashed away carelessly and rotting on the ground. "...This is... You can stay out- No, you should probably come in as well."

And so they entered the cave, and their eyes were met with the sight of a demolished fairy fountain, large stains of blood on the walls and pooling in the water, smaller spatterings on the ground. What was once likely a beautiful display of flowers and lush greenery was rotten, flayed, smashed on the ground.

Something horrible had happened here.

And on the ground, stuck between two rocks, was a scrap of familiar green fabric.

"Hyrule was here."

___

Back at camp, Legend stared down at Cranberry, as she stared back up.

"You're so... small."

Cran sneezed in response, and then began to yet again struggle in the water.

Lifting her out, he noticed that despite her supposed 'very large' size for a baby fairy (Time wouldn't shut up about how large she was, but to be fair he hadn't shut up about fairy facts since they'd found her), she was rather scrawny.

Concerningly so.

He wasn't sure how much skinniness was normal for baby fairies, but especially considering she had apparently just ate an entire bird and was slowly being given chunks of fruit to eat, she seemed underfed.

Cranberry seemed to agree, and let out a tiny whine of hunger as she squirmed in his hands.

Legend snorted, placing her in his lap as he turned himself to cut up more apple. "Hungry again, huh? I thought you'd be tired of apple by now."

As he went to gently place the fruit into her tiny hands, she reached out, squirming wildly and crying, unable to reach it until Legend brought it close enough.

"Calm down little Cran, it's not going anywhere."

As Cran speedily shoved the apple into her mouth, looking up every few seconds at Legend with an aggressive pout, he took a moment to think to himself.

The others would find her mother soon, he was sure, Time had talked about what a miracle it was Cranberry hadn't died already by the time they'd found her, meaning the mother was nearby. 

"M..m!" Came Cranberry's tiny voice.

"Yeah, we'll find her soon."

Cranberry butted her head into Legend's stomach. "M'm!"

Legend gave an awkward frown. "No, I'm not your mom."

"M'm!"

"...Okay maybe I'll be your mom for now, but your real one is gonna have something to say about that."

Cranberry seemed pleased, rolled over in his lap, and began to chew on his clothes.

It was almost enough to make him smile, but the nagging stress that was Hyrule's disappearance (and that Legend wasn't doing anything to help find him) weighed heavy in his thoughts.

It would be fine. Warriors and Sky were off looking for him right now, Twilight and Four were making sure that they would have his stuff ready for him...

Yes, it would certainly be fine.

And they would find Cranberry's family too, he was sure of it.

Everything would be fine.

He lifted Cranberry back into the water as a precautionary measure, only for her to cry to be held again, but he ignored her for the moment.

She was doing fine, too.

Everything was fine.

___

"...Does this mean Hyrule's dead?"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> "ill update it semi-consistantly" i say, showing up nearly a month later with the second chapter
> 
> anyways,,, i promise im working on this and my other fics yall, works just been kicking my ass


	3. Chapter 3

The words snapped Time out of his horrified haze, and he turned slowly towards Wind.

Hyrule was...

There wasn't much sense trying to argue he was alive, at this point.

"...It almost certainly does," Time said slowly, his voice wavering, not wanting to tell Wind but at the same time knowing he had the right to know and was smart enough to figure it out himself, "But there's still a chance that he's alive. And so long as there's that chance, we can't give up looking for him. If he's out there, he needs us, and we can't let him down."

"...Yeah."

"But... there's one thing this does mean."

"The fairies?"

"They're dead."

"Do you think maybe it was Cran's family?"

"... It might have been."

"That's-" Wind gave up mid sentence. "Let's just go back."

Time shook his head. "If anything, this means we're on the right track. Maybe we can find a way to, from here, see where Hyrule went afterwards."

Wind gave Time an odd stare.

"We'll look for footprints, trampled grass, maybe even drips of blood. Any sign that Hyrule passed by."

"Where should we start?"

"Well... we can go back to the entrance, see what direction the blood on the ground points in. Lets go."

___

Meanwhile, Four and Twilight had begun to make their back back to camp.

"Do you think Sky and Warriors will find any signs of Hyrule?"

"Not likely."

"Not pulling any punches, huh?"

"I couldn't track his scent anywhere. It was stale. The best I found was here, and a faint trail leading from camp from when he left," Twilight shook his head, "And I'm not even sure how that managed to stay all this time."

"There should at least be some trace of him, though," Four said, voice lowering, "If he's dead, his body should be somewhere, and-" He was cut off by the lump forming in his throat and the tears forming in his eyes.

"I know, but maybe-" Twi cut himself off. "Nevermind. I think we're almost back."

___

Hearing footsteps, Legend whipped his head up, ready to defend Cranberry from whatever dangers were there.

But it was just Twilight and Four carrying Hyrule's stuff.

Hyrule's blood-stained stuff.

No, that couldn't be right.

Hyrule wouldn't let that happen, he'd have a panic attack before letting that happen, he'd probably be more willing to die then let that-

No, it just couldn't be right.  
"I'm pretty sure this is almost all of his stuff," Twilight began, "Anything else is-"

"Do you have those weird dolls he has?"

"What?"

Legend shuffled his feet. "Those dolls. The ones that look like him."

Twilight and Four exchanged quizzical glances, causing him to notice how Four had clearly just been crying, until Twilight shook his head. "No, no dolls. I didn't see any while we were there, maybe I can go back and ask-"

No dolls. Legend was never sure what they were for, but they seemed important. 

Hyrule probably wouldn't be too happy when he came back.

If he came back.

Twilight paused, glancing around at the empty camp. "Is no one else back yet?"

"Not yet."

"Huh... Well, we may have a clue to where Hyrule went but..."

Legend jolted upright again, eyes widening and the corners of his mouth daring to perk up, though he knew it was useless to get his hopes up, so he fought the urge.

"Well, tell me the clue?"

As they told him of where the merchant had said he had found Hyrule's belongings, the hope that had slowly been snuffed out began to light back into Legend.

Twilight paused, looking up at the setting sun. "I was going to go check there again once everyone came back."

"Why not go looking now?"

"Well, I don't want to go alone, and I'm not leaving Four here alone with Cranberry."

Four looked embaressed, wincing, "Listen, I agree with that thought, but I could just go with you while Legend continues to stay here-"

"Don't pretend you weren't already out of breath when we were halfway there."

"Wh-"

"Get some rest, Four."

___

Sky and Warriors hadn't had any luck finding Hyrule, it seemed.

They returned to camp to Wild wrapping up some meat and vegetables in thin metal wrapping to cook on the fire, Twilight hovering around the edge of camp, knelt down examining the ground, Four stubbornly refusing to go to sleep early, and Legend continuing to play mother to Cranberry.

Warriors furrowed his brow. "Are Wind and Time still really not back from searching?"

"I thought they'd be back before us," Sky said with a tilt of his head, "Time said they wouldn't have to go far looking for Cranberry's mom."

Four turned to them to give them a tired stare. "Maybe they've gone missing too. Maybe somethings picking us off, one by one."

That earned Four a rock thrown at him by Legend.

"Don't joke about that!"

"W- I wasn't."

"What's your problem, anyways?

Four slowly turned his hollow gaze back toward Legend, then to the pot with Cranberry in it. "Nevermind."

"Get over yourself, Cranberry isn't hurting anyone."

"I said, nevermind."

"No, because in five minutes you're probably going to be back to complaining about how much you hate her, and I'm sick of it-"

"Can both of you stop yelling?" Came Wild's annoyed voice, "Or neither of you get dinner."

Legend huffed to himself, watching as Four went back to watching Wild cook, and Warriors settled beside him.

Sky, of course, came to watch Cranberry as well.

"How's she doing?" Sky asked eagerly, sitting beside him and reaching to lift her out.

Legend smacked Sky away gently, taking Cranberry into his own hands instead. "She's doing fine, but you probably just scared her."

Cranberry's lack of a squeal or squirm seemed to agree, curling in on herself and avoiding looking at Sky.

"Ohh, poor little berry baby..." Sky said softly, before lighting up with a grin. "I had an idea. Watch this," and he pulled out his bag and brought out a red cloth, laying it over his face.

"That's... that's not going to work."

Despite that, it seemed to work. Cranberry uncurled slightly and began to stare at Sky, reaching out her tiny arms. Then, she stared back at Legend who held her, then back to Sky, and she scrunched up her face.

Sky giggled under the cloth. "Aww, don't know what happened little one? Don't worry, you can trust me."

Legend blinked. "How did..."

Cranberry struggled in his hands and reached out towards Sky.

"Aww, she wants me to hold her! Can I?"

"Fine, just don't let her see your ugly face."

"My face is beautiful and you know it, Legend."

"Cran would beg to differ, she only likes you when it's covered."

As Legend begrudgingly handed her over to Sky, she quickly clung to his hands and gently nibbled on his fingers, making tiny noises.

"Don't forget to feed her, she acts like we've been starving her or something."

___

Time and Wind hadn't had much luck.

After Wind sheepishly admitted he wasn't the best at tracking things on land, Time had taken it as a learning opportunity and they slowly tried to trace where the blood exited towards, and it pointed out of the cavern. 

But after that, any hints were hard to find.

He'd noted before that Hyrule tended to step lightly and try to cover his traces, but had he really had the stamina to do so after what was seemingly a near-death encounter?

For a while, it just seemed to lead straight back to camp, but at some point any traces were impossible to find, and as Hyrule wasn't at camp, Time resigned that they must have been tracing Hyrule going TO the fairy fountain, not him leaving it.

Since they were already so close to camp, and the sun had all but set, they would go back, and continue the search tommorow.

As Wind and Time entered camp, Time almost tripped over Twilight, who was nearly face down on the ground, laying on his stomach, examining blades of grass.

"I- I'm sorry pup, what are you doing?"

"Trying to figure out why this spot still has some of Hyrule's scent on it," Twilight sneezed, hoisting himself back off the ground. "He's been gone for so long, it should be long faded by now."

Time paused and glanced around him. "This is where Cranberry was found, and... well, from what me and Wind found while searching," his voice dropped into a mournful tone, "there's a reason why she would be carrying his scent."

Brushing the dirt off of himself, Twilight narrowed his eyes. "I assume you'll be telling everyone at once?"

"Everyone should know, so... yes."

Nodding, Twilight motioned over to where the rest of the others were. "Sky, Four, and Warriors went to bed a bit ago, so they could conserve energy for tommorow, but they can live with being woken up if it's important."

Time paused. With how late it was getting, and how much they had traveled, rest seemed like a good idea for now. Giving them the news about the ruined fairy fountain would do nothing but make them more worried. 

He knew he would be having trouble sleeping that night, at least.

"It can wait until morning. Is there any dinner left?"

"A bit. I haven't eaten yet, either."

"Well, let's eat something before we sleep."

___

As Time and Twi sat down to eat, Time thought over what he and Wind had discovered.

The image of the blood-stained, demolished fairy fountain had been burned into his brain, the empty silence of it all echoing into his ears.

Legend had begun to look tired, ready to sleep, glancing around as if he was waiting for someone to take the baby-watching responsibilities away from him.

And Time would be happy to take it.

Getting up to go over to Legend, Time noticed that Cranberry was looking a little pale.

"You've been feeding her, right?"

Legend glanced tiredly at the pile of cut up, browned apples next to him. 

"I'll take that as a yes."

"Good. Will you watch her tonight?"

He should really sleep. 

"Of course," He only had to half-force the smile, "I've been waiting for a chance to keep an eye on her ever since she picked you as her favorite."

"Well," Legend snorted and threw a red cloth at him, "Just wear this and she won't be able to tell the difference."

With a small huff of laughter, Time caught the cloth and layed it over his face, causing Cranberry to glance up at him with a confused expression.

"Alright, I'm going to bed..." He paused and gave Cranberry a gentle pat on the head. "Goodnight, Cran."

Cranberry let out a tiny wail of distress as Legend left her sight, despite Time turning to gentlty hoist her out of the water so she wouldn't choke herself. She flailed her tiny arms and legs, wailing growing louder.

"Shh, little berry, it's okay." Time put a finger over her mouth to hush her, only for her to furiously chomp it with her teeth, breaking his skin. "No, Cranberry, erk-" Time flinched at the sharp pain, drawing his hand away and setting her in his lap. "No biting."

Cranberry cried and cried some more, growing even paler.

Time gently placed some apple into her hands to distract her for a moment, which for a moment she looked like she was ready to throw it, before quickly reconsidering and scarfing it down, as her cries died down.

"Out of breath, little one?" Time sighed, bringing his hand closer to his eye so he could see how deep the bite was. "...Not looking too fresh, I wonder..."

Giving a tiny huff, Cranberry stopped struggling, and began to whimper.

It was with that that Time realized his mistake. "Ah- So sorry little berry, one moment," he quickly went to pull out a magic potion. "you need some of this-”

Gently uncorking and tipping the potion into the little fairy's mouth, Cranberry struggled for a moment before settling down and trying to grab onto the bottle with her small hands.

"There you go, Berry, you've probably been wondering where the magic was..." He pulled it away and watched as she began to lick at her teeth, "your mommy probably made sure you never got that thirsty, huh?"

Cranberry sneezed. "M'm! W' M'm!"

"You want your mom...?" Time felt tears form in his eye. "I'm sorry little berry, I'm sure she wants you too. But..."

The tiny whimpers grew back into crying.

"And... You're a pretty smart baby, huh?" He paused, picking up another piece of apple. "Already know a word or two... Wonder how many more you have in ya'."

Cranberry started to choke, and with that he lifted her back into the water.

"...It'll be okay. We'll keep you safe."

___

As the hours passed, Time took a moment to breath, Cranberry finally having settled down from her wails, when suddenly he felt a small leg kick his shoulder.

One fairy hovered anxiously next to Cranberry, and the other stared at him with a pissed expression.

"Hello? Did you hear me? Did you steal that baby or not?"

"What? No, we found her-"

"As if such a tiny infant would be anywhere NEAR this close from her mother!" Huffed the angry fairy, and the one hovering near Cranberry nodded furiously.

Time shook his head, "I promise you, I would never steal a baby-"

"Then why is she so far from her mother?" The one near Cranberry stressed, and Cranberry watched with wide-eyed curiosity, occasionally trying to bat at the fairy.

"As I tried to tell you, we found her just on the edge of our camp, she was alone. We've been trying to take good care of her-"

"Oh, please, 'take good care of her', look at how bony she is! And so small, you've been neglecting her!"

"If you'l believe it," Time said, trying to keep his composure, "She was even skinnier when we found her. We've been trying to feed her and- And what do you mean, small? I've never seen a bigger child, she's the size of you-"

"What, do you think she's just a plain fairy baby? She's too big to be one, but she's far, far, far too small for how big she should be, she's less then half the size of a normal infant-"

Time shook his head, "What do you mean? You aren't saying that-"

"She's a great fairy baby, idiot!"

"She's too small to-"

"That's why I'm worried! She's so small..." The fairy fretted, glancing over at Cranberry. 

Time froze for a moment to take the information in.

Up until this moment, he'd assumed that Cranberry was just overgrown, probably on the older edge of a baby, ready to cocoon at any moment and become a nypmh.

But if she was a great fairy...

She couldn't be any more then a few days old.

"She..."

"Well? Are you sorry? Look what you've done! Her mother must be worried sick- oh the poor dear..."

Time took a glance at the fairy soothing Cranberry, trying to ensure that the baby didn't pick up on the turmoil of emotions, and stared back at the fairy who was arguing with him. 

"We've been trying our best to keep her healthy, though, I'm ashamed to admit it slipped my mind to give her magic until earlier tonight,"

"Slipped your mind... Did it not occur to you to go looking for her mother?"

"We- We've looked, a friend of ours is missing as well, and... What we found was..."

The fairies voice softed. "Well?"

Time felt his through close up, and he shook his head. "The closest fairy fountain, was, well... When we entered..."

Her eyes widened in shock. "It's true? I heard that- The reason we'd come by this way was because we heard that monsters had raided a friend of ours' fountain, and- It's true, then?"

Time nodded.

"I- oh..." She went silent for a few moments, taking a moment to rest on Time's shoulder, wiping a tear from her eye. "But- From what I know, she didn't have a great fairy baby recently... Or maybe since she looks so little, there was no time to come tell us before the attack..."

"... I'm sorry. Like I'd said, I... I believe we lost someone to that attack as well."

The fairy looked up at him.

"Our friend- We call him Hyrule, he's been gone for... for at least a week, maybe more, time has sort of gotten hard to keep track of, and when we arrived at the fountain, we found a scrap from his clothes, stained with blood. He's always been a fan of fairies, says that he has some fairy friends himself. His items turned up at a vendor, saying they got it from monsters... That's... that's all we've been able to find of him... I think he might have died fighting. Trying to protect your friend, maybe."

The fairy remained silent, looking to her friend, who immediately looked away.

And then she spoke.

"He must have been very brave."

"...He was."

She paused for another moment looking back to Cranberry. "...You said you've been taking care of her?"

"As best as we can, yes."

"Have you given her a name?"

"Cranberry."

"Not very traditional, but it's cute. If you are being honest, then she should start getting bigger soon... You can't keep her forever."

Certainly not if she was a baby great fairy. "I know." Even if he wanted to.

"Me and my sister can ask around, see if there are any great fairies willing to take her in... Would that be alright?"

"It's for the best."

"Mm... She'll shoot up in height in no time, you'll have to get a bigger pot. And more food, and magic. But... we'll leave her with you for now, we'll come back once we find a home for her."

Time nodded. "Thank you for your help- I'm sorry about your loss."

"As are we... come on, let's... let's go home."

Time watched as the two fairies waved goodbye, both taking a turn at giving Cranberry a tiny kiss on the head, before leaving.

As they left, Time fished Cranberry out of the water. "Didn't start drowning the whole time, huh little Cran? Are your gills getting better?"

Cranberry seemed relaxed, despite the lack of a cloth on Time's face, and made a move to start nibbling on his finger.

"We're gonna find you a real home, I promise."


	4. Chapter 4

"You're giving her away?!"

Legend's scream of anger set Cranberry off crying.

"Calm down Legend, it's for the best."

"But-"

"I understand you've gotten attached over the past few days, but we can't take care of her forever."

Attached was a strong word, but yes, he had gotten attached. "Well-" 

"We can talk about it later. You said you were going to go look for Hyrule today?"

"Of course I am, unlike some people I'm not going to give up yet."

"No one said they're giving up."

Legend looked around at the others with narrowed eyes. "Sure."

Picking up Cranberry to try and stop her from crying, Time nodded to Legend and Four. "You two can go looking now, try to get out as far as you can and sweep the entire perimeter. You can start from the fountain."

Twilight stood up as well, his gaze already headed towards the spot of grass he'd been smelling last night. "I'll be going with them as well."

"Then come on," Legend huffed, "We don't have all day."

As the three left, Time looked at Wild. "Cut up some meat, small chunks. Doesn't need to be cooked. She's gonna need some protein."

___

Twilight had shifted into his wolf form, head close to the ground and sniffing vigorously.

If this trail led to the fairy fountain, it would confirm Time's suspicion that the reason it had lingered was Cranberry carrying Hyrule's scent to camp. 

And sure enough, the faint, fading scent grew ever so slightly stronger as he followed it, little flecks of blood staining some of the grass growing more frequent as they approached. At some point, the scent became considerably stronger, despite how stale it was. 

As they finally reached the fountain, the blood splattered on the ground outside, Twilight sniffed around once more to be thorough, finding another scent trail leading out of it.

Letting out a bark, Twilight pointed with his muzzle in the direction of the scent. Hyrule must have gone that way.

But as they followed the trail, Twilight noticed something odd.

It only grew more faint from there.

Twilight retraced his steps and followed it back to the fountain, then went down the trail he'd tracked to the fountain, back again, then back down the second trail.

Sure enough, both scents seemed to be leading from somewhere else, to the fountain.

And that just couldn't be right.

Pulling the stone back out of him, Twilight morphed back into his normal human self and paced in a circle, giving a frustrated sigh and staring at Legend and Four, who looked unimpressed and confused.

"So are we going to keep going or circles or...?"

"It just doesn't make sense!"

Legend raised an eyebrow. "What doesn't?" 

"We followed the scent trail of Hyrule leaving camp to this spot, and I thought that the other Hyrule scent here would lead to wherever he went, but that's also him coming here!"

"Maybe your nose is broken."

Twilight placed a finger on his nose and stared at it. "Maybe it is."

___

Cranberry had not stopped crying since Legend had left.

Sky had been trying to look after her and keep her happy, but she was refusing to eat or drink anything, and the constant crying meant more frequent switches between the water and air so that she didn't choke.

"Calm down, little one, it's gonna be okay..." Sky flinched as he tried to bring a tiny cube of meat close to Cranberry's mouth, only for her to try to bite him instead. 

Time had warned him with a point to his bandaged finger that he should try to keep his fingers away from those teeth, and while he hadn't taken the warning seriously at first, he remembered the poor bird and decided it was better safe then sorry.

Suddenly, Warriors walked up to him with an exasperated tone, "I'd ask you if you've had any luck getting her to stop, but I've been here the whole time and you clearly haven't."

"Sorry," Sky said sheepishly, picking Cranberry up and placing her in his lap.

"What's got her so upset?"

"Legend left."

"Besides that, I mean. That can't be the ONLY reason."

"It is as far as I know," he shrugged, "Time says she must think he's her mom."

"Is she stupid?"

"She's a baby."

"... You have a point. But still- I know babies are over dramatic, but this is a bit extreme, did her mother never leave her alone for a moment?"

It was with that remark that Time decided to intervene. "Warriors, aren't you more familiar with fairies then the average folk?"

"Well, yes, but not the baby ones."

"I've said it before, great fairies never leave their young children alone for more then a moment if it can be helped. And since she's a great fairy baby, that's even more of a reason she probably hasn't actually been without her mother for more then a few minutes."

"The crying was immediately after he left, though."

"Does it really matter?"

Warriors let out a sigh. "No, I just want there to be some peace and quiet for more than the few seconds it takes her to catch her breath."

"She'll give up eventually, she has to get tired."

"It's been hours."

"I said eventually."

__

Twilight shook his head. "We have to follow the second trail. It'll fade completely soon, maybe something's just gone wrong."

Legend nodded. "Let's hurry up then, shove that stupid rock into your skull and get sniffing."

Biting his lip, Four hesitated. "I think- I think it's going to rain soon."

"What gives you that idea?"

Four blinked his blue eyes. (Or maybe they were purple? You could never be too sure.) "Just a hunch. Come on, the rain will wash it away and then we'll have nothing to go off of."

___

It only took half an hour more before Cranberry gave up her crying and resolved to quietly sniffle and curl up on herself, letting Sky gently shove food at her until she took it and ate it.

"You know, I had been hoping she would stop crying too, but now she just looks sad."

"Don't worry, Sky, she'll perk back up when Legend comes back," Time sighed, "She's got her appetite back and that's an improvement."

"I don't think it ever left," Sky laughed softly as he watched her violently tearing into the little cubes of meat. "She may be sad, but she's even hungrier."

"She is hungry, isn't she?" Time pondered for a moment. "A little more than a healthy appetite, I'm surprised she hasn't choked by how fast she's eating."

"She needs a lot of food if she wants to grow big and strong!" Sky cooed at her, before turning to Time. "Say, how big is she going to grow?"

"Mm.... Well, she's so small at the moment that she'll likely always be on the smaller side, but Great fairies are very large, you know."

"Er- I don't know, actually, I've never met one."

"Really? But-"

"I've only met the normal sized ones, never really talked to them much, I think they were scared of me because they didn't know what I was. I didn't know what they were, either, when one said something to me, I immediately released all the ones I caught and started crying because I didn't know what to do. I just thought they were a cool new species of bugs that we didn't have on Skyloft."

"...Sometimes I forget that you're new to the whole 'ground' thing."

___

Having shifted back into a wolf, Twilight followed the second trail. But it was faint and fading, and sure as Four's prediction, the sky became overcast, and drops of rain started to fall from the sky.

'We have to keep going,' Twilight thought, ignoring the rain as it quickly began to pour. 'This is the last chance we have to find him, if I can't track his scent...'

He looked back to Four and Legend, noticing Legend's discomfort and a look of restrained... something... on Four's face, and pressed his nose back to the ground, trying to find the scent.

But he couldn't.

But he had to try, and so he sniffed around the same area again and again, hoping to find it once more.

But it was too late.

The rain had washed it away.

___

"I think Cran likes the rain!"

"I'm sure she does," Time said in amusement, watching as the tiny infant wiggled in his lap, "She'll like it more once Legend is back, though."

Cran let out a tiny cry. "Egg!"

"Awww, she wants Legend!" Sky cooed, "Can I hold her?"

"It's strange how-"

"Egg! L'egg!"

"Feeling talkative, little one? I'm surprised you even know how to talk when you're so young..."

Cran began to butt her head into Time and cry louder, her attempts to say Legend turning into unintelligible babble.

Sky made a move to put her back in the pot, only to be wacked by Cran's arms and almost bitten.

"I wouldn't do that again if I were you."

"But won't she run out of breath? She's crying so much,"

"The rains keeping her gills wet, she can stay out. It's just a tantrum, Legend will be back soon, now that it's raining."

Sure enough, before too much time passed, Legend and Twilight returned to camp.

Warriors greeted them with a snort. "Finally, egg boy has returned."

"Y- Egg boy?"

"Cranberry's been crying for you since you left."

Legend felt guilt crash over him. "So I'm egg boy now?"

"She's been calling you 'Egg'. Where's Four?"

"He's with us."

"No?"

Legend looked behind him, and sure enough, Four was not there. "Shit."

Twilight sighed. "I'll go look for him, he probably fell behind."

"Yeah, and he's probably pissed off that we left him in the rain."

"Go check on Cranberry, I can hear her crying from here."

"I'll go with you," Warriors volunteered, "It isn't safe to go out alone."

Legend caught himself before saying something about Hyrule. "Good luck."

Legend headed over to the source of the wailing he heard when he entered the camp, and was quickly handed Cranberry.

"She's missed you!"

Cranberry squealed in joy, stretching out her arms to try and grab him, rubbing her head against his hands, nipping his hands, then rubbing against them again.

"Hey little Cran," Legend said, snorting and pulling her closer. "I'm sorry I left."

Cranberry nipped at his hands again, repeating the cycle a few times over as she snuggled against him.

"I think that's her way of telling you not to leave again," Time said in amusement, looking relieved.

Legend stared down at her, his heart breaking as his thought of how it must have seemed to her. First to have lost her mother, then stolen away, only to reunite with her again, and then for her to leave once more.

But he wasn't her mother.

"It's okay Cran, I won't leave you again."

"Awww, Egg boy's a softie!"

"I'm not a-" Legend suppressed his annoyance as he remembered Cranberry's empathy. "Shut up."

"Softie."

Legend cradled Cranberry for an hour or so as the rain poured down, until Twilight and Warriors returned with a disgruntled Four.

Four looked miserable, his face twisted in barely concealed rage.

"Sorry we left you behind," Legend began, setting Cranberry down in his lap.

Four looked away and muttered under his breath.

"Fine, be like that-"

"Shut up!"

"Excuse me?"

"Just leave me alone."

"I was apologizing to you, you little shit-"

Cranberry began to cry, and Four let out a scream of frustration. 

"Stop yelling! The baby is-"

"I'm leaving."

"What? Four-"

But without responding, Four stomped off, kicking the ground and stopping to punch a tree.

Cranberry wailed and wailed, and Legend picked her back up, rocking her gently. "Shhh little one, it's okay, Four's just being a huge bitch-"

"Legend."

Legend whipped his head back up at Time. "What?"

"Go talk to Four."

"No."

"Cran will be fine, Legend. Go talk to him."

"I'll just piss him off more!"

"Legend."

Legend looked down at Cranberry, who was starting to relax as she chewed on his clothes. "Fine," he rolled his eyes, and handed the baby to Time, who had laid the cloth over his face in anticipation.

"I'll be back, don't worry."

Standing up, Cranberry began to struggle in Time's hands. "Egg!"

"Egg will come back soon, little berry, he's just going to go talk to Four."

Legend winced as he tried to ignore her cries, following in the direction Four went.

He caught up with him quickly, and Four was violently kicking a tree.

"Four-"

Four ignored him.

"For fucks sake Four,"

"What do you want?!"

"It isn't safe to be out here alone, dumbass, shouldn't you know that already?!"

"Well I don't fucking care! Fuck off! Leave me alone!"

"Is this about Cran?"

"What else would it be about!"

"Cran is a BABY, she's literally just a baby! She's a fucking baby! Why are you so angry at her!"

"I'm n-" Four paused and stared down at the ground, his intense blue gaze flickering with emotion. "Why does it matter! You don't know my life!"

"Maybe if you just told us-"

"Fuck you! I hate you! I hate all of you! I hope you all die! Go rot in a ditch for all I care!"

"Stop being so-"

"I'm leaving, and I'm not coming back until you get rid of that... that thing!"

"Four, it's not safe-"

Four screamed at him once more, throwing a rock as hard as he could and hitting him in the face, before storming off again.

Feeling blood start to trickle down from next to his eye, Legend was too overwhelmed with anger and annoyance to care. "Fine! We won't miss you!"

But as he said it, some of the anger ebbed away into worry and regret.


	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> read till the end for some Fun Cranberry Trivia, to celebrate 100 kudos!

Why did he have to make things so difficult?

He took a moment to calm himself, knowing the others (and Cranberry) waited for him to return with Four, which definitely wasn't going to happen, so he may as well calm down so that he could explain things without being a hothead. 

And hopefully it would keep Cranberry from picking up on his stress, too.

Legend smeared some of the blood away from his eye, taking one last glance at the direction Four had left him before returning to camp.

‘He'll be back soon, there's not really any towns nearby for him to stay at and he'll wear himself out traveling with no food,’ Legend thought, trying to make himself feel better.

___

Needless to say, the others weren't pleased that Legend only made things worse.

"I tried to tell you it wouldn't go well," Legend complained as Time dabbed some potion onto the wound.

"We could hear the two of you yelling from here," Time sighed, watching as Cranberry happily nuzzled into Legend's leg, "Berry here must have heard it too, she kept getting excited when she heard your voice."

"I tried to be nice! But he just kept screaming at me!"

"He-"

"Listen, don't try to make me feel bad, because you weren't there to hear him scream about how much he hated us and hoped we would die."

"Legend,"

"And, I already do feel bad. He'll come back, though, he's probably out there being stubborn waiting for us to go apologize."

"I already sent Wind and Sky to look for him."

"Good."

"Did he say why he was so upset?"

"Just that he hates Cran."

"It has to be more then that, though. Something has to be wrong to make him this upset."

"Maybe he'll finally tell us once he gets back," Legend snorted. 

Time pulled back. "Alright, the cut should start sealing soon. If it gets infected tell me."

"Thanks," He looked down and offered Cranberry a chunk of apple. 

"You said Four threw a rock at you?"

"Yeah."

"...Anyways, little Berry here should have some more magic soon. It's... an expensive diet, that's for sure, but she needs it."

"How should I give it to her?"

"Here, I'll show you."

As Time uncorked a bottle of magic, showing Legend how to support Cranberry without hurting his hand on her back spikes, Legend's mind drifted slightly.

Twilight had told the rest of the group about how they couldn't find any trace left of Hyrule, and that finding him now would be near impossible.

"Legend...?"

"I'm listening."

"Legend, you're crying."

Oh, so he was. "Okay, I wasn't listening, repeat what you said?"

Cranberry had stopped trying to reach out to the bottle, and looked up at Legend with her big eyes.

"What? Am I making you sad, Cran?"

"Mm." She kissed his hand gently.

Okay, now he was really crying.

"Are you alright, Legend?"

"Considering Hyrule is probably dead? No. Aside from that? I mean sure, probably. But... ugh. Just show me how to give her the magic."

"...I'm sorry, Legend."

"It's not your fault," Legend wiped away a tear, "Now show me, before Cran starts crying again."

Time obliged and started to tilt the magic gently into the baby's mouth, and she latched onto it firmly, explaining how to ensure she wouldn't choke.

"Alright, Legend, do you think you can do that yourself?"

"Doesn't seem too hard, probably gonna be more of a challenge to hold her while I hold the bottle too, with all her wiggling."

"Alright, here," Time tried to pull the potion away from Cranberry, to which she refused. "Come on, little berry. Let go, Legend's gonna feed you now."

Cranberry was not having that, however, and bit down hard onto Time's hand, taking a chunk off of the back.

Time's face crunched up in pain, and he pulled a hand over his mouth to muffle a scream of pain.

Pleased, Cranberry held the bottle close, though unable to tilt it to her mouth, she started to cry.

Legend stared horrified for a few moments at Cranberry, who had the torn off part of Time's hand dangling from her mouth, before settling her into one arm only and wrestling to pull it out of her mouth. "No, you are NOT eating that,"

Cranberry struggled but eventually obliged, and Legend threw it on the ground. "Eurgh, Time, are you good?"

Time forced a nod as he grabbed for the healing potion he had previously been using for Legend's cut. "I'll be fine," he said, voice straining, "I should have know she would have done something like that, this is the second time she's bit me, both times because I tried to take away her food."

"Are all fairy babies this overprotective of their snacks?"

"No, she's just... special."

Legend caught the potion bottle before it slipped out of her grasp, to which Cranberry responded to by giving him an angry glare, only to calm once she realized he was only trying to feed her more.

"Those fairies said that she looked starved... she can't be more then a week or so old, probably less then that."

"But we've had her for only-"

"I know, she must have practically only just hatched when she got stolen from her mother... She's small, too."

"You said she's a great fairy baby? Yeah, she sure is small. Had no idea they came out this tiny."

"They don't," Time shook his head, "A newborn great fairy hatchling should be at least two feet in size to be healthy, give or take a few inches. Bigger if they're healthier."

Looking at Cran, who was under half a foot long, Legend bit his lip. "Yeah. Wow. Okay, she's... she's tiny."

"Between her size and how skinny she was when we found her, it makes me wonder if there's something seriously wrong with her... she hasn't grown at all since we found her, either."

Legend watched as Cranberry drank the last of the magic, and then contently snuggled into his arm. "Maybe."

"With her lungs and gills not working right, either. The rain right now is helping her a lot, but... once it lets up, she'll have to go back to switching between air and water."

"What do you think it could be?"

"I'm not sure, maybe some sort of disability, or... maybe she didn't form right in her egg, or didn't get enough magic as an egg, or... I'm really not sure what it could be. I hope she'll be able to grow out of it, though."

"Me too."

__

"Where do you think Four went?" Wind wondered aloud, trying to follow the instructions Time had given him the other day about tracking.

"Not sure," Sky shrugged, "He's probably sheltering somewhere while the rain is still going."

"Umm, there's this other cave me and Time found before we found the fairy fountain, maybe he's there?"

"Is it close?"

"Yeah, it's uhhh... Follow me!"

Wind led Sky through the forest, trying to keep track of where they were.

"Are you sure you know where we're going?"

"Nope!"

"Wind!"

"It'll be fine though! If we keep going we're bound to find something."

"No, you aren't leading anymore. I recognize this spot from when I was looking for Hyrule a few days ago, we're going back to camp."

"But what about Four?"

"With him gone, that's two of us missing, we don't want to make it two more."

"But what if the monsters that got Hyrule get him next?"

"I- I don't want to stop until we find him either, but we can't get lost too."

"But-"

"We have to go back. We're already far from camp, it's late, we'll be lucky to make it before midnight. Everyone's probably already worried."

Wind gave a disgruntled frown, and sighed. "Find, we'll go back. Four better be okay or I'll-"

He looked at Sky's worried, upset face, and remembered this was his fault.

"Nevermind..."

___

"You couldn't find him?"

"We... got lost." Sky admitted, sparing Wind by avoiding the details.

"Agh, I should have had Warriors go with you, then you would have had someone more used to tracking on land-"

"It's alright, should someone go look for him tonight?"

"Yes, we have to find him, you should have been able to find him when you went, and since you didn't... Maybe he had been onto something trying to pick us off."

As much as Sky wanted to disagree, he felt sick knowing that it may be true.

"Warriors? Wild? Could you go look for him?" Time turned to call the two links.

"Definitely!" Wild almost immediately bolted up. 

"Of course," Warriors nodded, "We won't come back until we find him."

"Stay safe out there, okay? It's night, there could be dangers out there."

"We will!"

"...Alright."

Time watched as the two of them left to go search for Four, and turned back to Sky and Wind. "You two should sleep, okay? Unless you want to watch Cranberry for the night, Sky."

"Why can't I watch her?"

"Wind, as I've already said, she's very young, and very fragile, and you can't look away for even a moment with her. It's not that I don't trust you, it's that I'm worried you'll be too much for her, you could hurt her."

Wind stuck his tongue out at him, "Fine- wait, what happened to your hand?"

"Cranberry was upset with me for trying to take her juice from her."

"Really? Again?" Sky question, voice edged with concern. "She's so overprotective..."

"I don't think she fully trusts us to remember to give her any after having not done so for the first day."

Sky opened his mouth to say something, but closed it and frowned, tilting his head. "...I'll watch her."

"Thank you Sky, there's dinner on the embers over there, it may be a bit cold by now though. You too, Wind. Make sure you eat."

Sky and Wind ate their dinner, and Wind went to bed, meanwhile Sky headed towards Legend, who was still stubbornly awake, holding Cranberry up as she slept in the water.

"I'll take over," Sky said, trying to sound cheerful, as he placed the red cloth over his face, but worry tugged at him.

"I don't want her to get upset again," Legend huffed.

"Maybe sleep next to her, then, so she can still see you."

"...That's actually a pretty good idea."

As Legend set up to sleep, Sky moved in to hold up Cranberry instead. She barely noticed, deeply asleep. 

Part of him was VERY happy and fawning over how adorable she was, but the other part of him was very worried. 

She's small, she'd been starving when they found her, being so protective of her food, becoming incredibly panicked when her 'mom' left her...

If he didn't have Time assuring him otherwise, he'd have assumed she had been abused, or at the very least, neglected and then abandoned on purpose. 

But he did have Time assuring him, and each time he brought up his concerns, Time was there to insist that Great Fairies were diligent mothers, who would rather die then let any harm come to their children, and after having discovered that she was a 'Great' fairy, that this care would be more then doubled and that she couldn't be more then a few days old when they found her anyways.

And then of course, there was also Four to worry about.

He'd been acting so on edge and hostile since they'd found Cranberry, and while he had initially assumed it was just Four being rude because he hated bugs, but it seemed to have run deeper than that, and now he was gone.

With Hyrule, they had taken about a day to truly become worried. 

They weren't going to make that mistake again.

He hoped he would be okay.

___

The rest of the night passed smoothly, and Sky quickly leaned the cues to when he had to lift Cranberry out of the water, and when to put her back in. Warriors and Wild weren't back yet, which was concerning. How far had Four gone?

Had something gotten him?

Or was he just hiding from them? It would be cruel of him, he knew they would be worried, especially after what happened to Hyrule.

But from the screaming match he had with Legend, maybe he was that angry.

He hoped it was that last one.

He didn't want to think about the other options.

The sun was starting to rise, and so were the others, starting with Twilight, as to be expected. 

He waved to Sky, before getting up to watch the sunrise.

Time was next, followed by Legend who he tripped over on the way to Sky.

Legend stared at Time in exhausted exasperation, but hoisted himself up anyways.

"Should we wake up Wind?"

"Let him sleep in."

Legend turned to Cranberry in the pot and yawned. "Either she didn't cry all night, or-" He cut himself off with another yawn and a stretch. 

"Still tired?," Sky yawned back. "I know I am. Could you watch her now?"

"Obviously I will."

"Alright, good night! I'm stealing your bedroll," he said, letting go of Cran and laying where Legend had been.

Cranberry let out a tiny squeak as she woke up, wiggling her legs as she drifted freely for a moment in the water before Legend put his hands in to hold her up.

"Don't worry, Cran, I've got ya."

As time passed, the group back at camp waited for Wild and Warriors to return, hopefully with Four. 

After half the day went by, they finally returned.

Without Four.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hey so,, uh,,, im glad this fic has been so well received! 100 kudos! hot damn! as a small thank you to you readers, ive put together some cran trivia, and also answer some questions that my lovely friend pud had :3c
> 
> Did you know that the the concept for this fic was first brought up to me on 09/24/2019 by Woods, who this fic is dedicated to? i cant believe its been that long ngl, time really does fly. thats long enough ago that the whole "theyre travelling through portals" thing wasnt in the comics! 
> 
> Original (but scrapped) ideas include: everyone being apprehensive of cran bcs they assumed she was some sort of baby monster, cranberry crawling onto four and then promptly being hurled off him, and also cran being Significantly Larger then she is in the current fic
> 
> in the first chapter, the line " "Well, she's a fairy, and fairies sexes don't work the same as yours and mine, the majority of fairies consider themselves female, despite-" ", Time was trying to finish that with "Despite the fact that all fairies besides Great Fairies would be considered male by Hylian terms."
> 
> https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/717018036632158228/763996090457915422/image0-63.png cran art by woods :)
> 
> And now for the questions :3c
> 
> "what's your favorite scene so far?"  
> \- oh it's for sure the scene in chapter 4 where sky's talking about his experience with fairies. i just think its funny.
> 
> "Why is Legend mom color?"  
> \- baby has... bad eyesight. Cran's mother must have been a very similar shade of red to Legend's tunic, and object permanance is very low, combined with bad eyesight, so... Big + Red = Mom
> 
> "Why does Cran eat meat?"  
> \- hungry. But in all seriousness, all fairies eat meat as part of their diet, and meat also has a lot of protein, which is good for a growing baby.
> 
> "would she get sick if she ate other types of food?"  
> \- oh for sure. most seasonings, citrus, caffeine, dairy, ect. ect. ect, are all bad for fairies. Non-citrus fruit and straight meat (cooked or raw) are a safe bet.
> 
> And thats all! I just want to thank everyone, Woods especially, for reading, commenting, and kudosing this fic, it means the world to me that people like my writing, and I'm happy to share it with the world.


	6. Chapter 6

"You couldn't find him?!" Legend asked, panic and guilt filling him. "Did you even try?!"

"Of course we tried! We looked everywhere."

"But-"

Cranberry began to cry, and so Legend stopped himself.

"We went as far as we could, but we couldn't find anything. We ran into some people on the way, they said they hadn't seen anyone else come by either."

"But- He can't have-" Legend began to stutter. He'd been so sure Four couldn't have gotten far, so wrapped up in annoyance at him and concern for Cranberry, that he'd pushed aside the very real possibility that something terrible could have happened to Four.

Why did he have to be such an asshole?

Cranberry didn't seem to care that Four was gone, and began to gnaw on Legend's hand holding her up.

"Cran- This isn't the time, Four might be dead."

Cranberry whined at him and continued to gnaw.

"You keep watching her," Warriors sighed, his barely concealed annoyance peeking through, "Someone else can go looking for him now that we're back, we can't give up-"

‘Like how we've given up looking for Hyrule’, Legend bit back the words.

He wasn't about to scream another friend away.

Twilight stood up. "I can go look for him. Wild, Time, will you come with me?"

Wild looked displeased. "But I just got back, I twisted my ankle and it still hurts-"

"Legend, will you come in place of Wild?"

Legend froze up, staring down at Cranberry as she gnawed, and then back up at Twilight. "Why do you need two people to come with you in the first place?"

"You'll see."

Twilight led the group of three through past where Four had last been seen, to a spot only slightly outside of camp.

"Alright. You two stay here, I'm going to-"

"What?! No, Twi, idiot, you aren't going alone."

Twilight stared at Legend with a serious look. "Listen, I have to do this by myself. If either of you came with me, it could ruin it."

Shaking his head, Time put his hand on Twilight's shoulder. "Listen, pup. Legend is right. You can't go out alone, not when both Hyrule and Four have gone missing."

"I have to do it alone."

"I'm sure you actually don't," Legend scoffed, throwing his hands up, "Do you want to die?!"

"Just trust me, I'll be fine."

"But you-"

"Trust me."

"I'd love to trust you," Time sighed, "But it just isn't safe."

"But it might be our only chance of finding Four-"

"How many times do we have to tell you no?! Two of us have gone missing in the past few weeks, all because they went off alone, and now you just think it'll be perfectly safe and acceptable for you to just wander off as well?!"

Twilight looked exasperated. "Just trust me,"

"No!"

"Twilight, go back to camp."

"But-"

"I don't feel like I can trust you to keep searching with us without going off on your own, so go back. Me and Legend will-"

"Errr-"

"Alright, we'll all go back, I'll take..." Time thought it over. "I'll take... Sky, with me."

"But he was up all night watching Cran."

"...Then I'll take Wind."

Legend opened to mouth to object to that one as well, but closed it upon realizing that that was the only other option he had.

"...Be safe."

\---

As Time left with Wind to continue the search for Four, Legend quickly settled in to soothe Cranberry, who had thrown a fit in his absence.

"Shh, it's alright baby berry, I'm right here."

"She missed her egg boy," Sky cooed, though he sounded worried. "What happened? Why did you all come back so fast?"

"Mr. Idiot over there," Legend gestured to Twilight, who was whispering to Wild, "Decided it would be a good idea to try and go off alone, even though he knows Four and Hyrule went missing after doing the same."

"Really?!"

Twilight looked over at them and sighed. "I just wanted to help find Four better,"

"Splitting up isn't safe right now."

"You don't think I don't know that?"

"You sure are acting like you don't!"

Twilight rolled his eyes and continued to talk with Wild.

Legend wrinkled his nose as he offered a cube of raw meat to Cranberry, who instantly gobbled it up.

"She bit me while you were gone," Sky sighed, showing him his arm, which was wrapped with a slightly bloody bandage.

"If you think that's bad," Legend snorted, "You should have seen Time's hand right after the fact. We buried it, but she was just about ready to eat what she tore off."

Sky shook his head, "I've said it before but she's so overprotective of her food... there has to be some reason why."

"Probably cause she's a hungry little greedy baby," Legend said, not a hint of malice in his voice as he smirked fondly at the baby fairy.

"...Yeah..."

As the hours passed by, Time and Wind still out searching, Legend began to grow tired.

"I'll keep up watch tonight," Wild volunteered, approaching Legend.

"Didn't she not like you last time you did?"

"C'mon, please? I'll wear that cloth!"

Legend hesitated. 

"Please?"

"Fine," Legend sighed, and jabbed Sky with his elbow. "Give him the Cran-cloth."

Sky obliged, digging it back out of his bag and tossing it over.

"Thanks! I'll cut her up some more food, too."

Legend waved goodnight to Cran, who cried until Wild lifted her out of the pot so she could watch him sleep next to her, and then began to squirm and try to bite Wild's hands.

"Nonono, Cranbaby. No biting. I've seen what you've done to Sky and Time."

Cranberry cried some more, to no avail.

Wild watched as everyone went to sleep, and then as Twilight quietly rose from where he was and nodded to him.

'Good luck', Wild signed.

'Thank you,' Twilight signed in returned.

Twilight exited camp, and then, once he was a safe distance away, inserted the stone into his forehead.

Shifting into his wolf form, he stalked quietly through the night, ignoring as birds and other animals fled at his presence. He wasn't trying to be careful, so it didn't really matter.

All that mattered was that he find Four.

And he knew exactly where to look.

Treading lightly, he made his way to a spot that he had noticed before, back when they had been searching for Hyrule.

A tiny, tiny village, hidden away in the trunk of a tree.

He noticed that a few of the small creatures, Minish, had spotted him and were making panicked chirping sounds.

"I don't mean to alarm you, I'm only looking for a friend. His name is Four, have you seen him?"

The minish only responded in more panic, not understanding his words.

"I'll wait here, then."

Twilight sat down and patiently waited for the news to spread that he was there, until finally a tiny, familiar face poked out.

"Four!"

"...You aren't making me go back."

"I wasn't planning on it."

Four hesitated and crawled up onto the edge of the hollow to talk to him better.

Twilight squinted. "Did you get new clothes?"

He looked down at his tiny red outfit and laughed nervously. "Um- yeah. The rain soaked u- me, I had to change."

"I'm not going to make you come back, Four."

"..."

"I just wanted to make sure you're okay."

"...I'm okay, don't worry."

"With Hyrule missing, and then no one being able to find you, everyone's just... terrified of what might have happened to you."

"I'm sorry."

"Legend won't say it but he feels terrible about yelling at you, he thinks it's his fault."

"W... I was going to leave anyways, I couldn't take it anymore being around that..." He shuddered. "You know?"

"Four..."

"Tell him I'm sorry, I didn't mean to yell at him. I didn't mean what I said about hoping you would all die, I was just lashing out out of fear."

"They're going to want to know where you went, Four."

"Tell them I found somewhere to stay, but I'm not coming back until that thing is gone. Once it is, you can come tell me, and I'll come back."

"Are you sure you'll be alright?"

"Positive."

"Stay safe, Four. I'll be back once you can return."

"Bye, Twi! Tell everyone I'm sorry, especially Legend."

As Twilight left, three other small 'Minish' emerged.

"Why did you tell them we were sorry? Because I'm not."

"Shhhh, just be glad we don't have to go back."

___

Twilight shifted back to his regular form, and as he got closer to camp, he cringed at the sound of bickering.

"You let him leave?!"

"He said he-"

"Wild. I'm very disappointed in you, do you realize-"

Moving quickly, Twilight entered camp.

"Uh- hey guys, I'm fine. No need to worry."

"Twi!"

"I'm back, I'm safe, there's nothing to worry about."

"Why did you leave?" Time's voice was still stressed, watching as Wild scurried behind Twilight to shove him forward.

"I told you, I was looking for Four."

Legend, who was holding Cranberry in one hand and a potion in the other, looked furious. "Oh? You were? You just thought you would go off, on your own, to look for him, instead of leaving it to Time and Wind, making everyone worried-"

"I found him."

"Oh, you did? Then where is he?"

"He found somewhere safe to stay, don't worry."

"Don't worry? Why shouldn't we?! What, we're just supposed to take your word for it?"

"Do you have any reason not to believe me?"

Legend stared. "Listen. You found him pretty quick, which means you obviously knew where to find him. Why didn't you just tell us where you were going?"

"...He doesn't want to be found, if he knew more then just me knew where he went-"

"We thought he died! We thought you were gonna die! Is that not more important then being petty or secretive?!"

"I-"

Time cut him off. "Four's safe, then?"

"Yes. I spoke to him myself."

"Good, then. That's all we can ask for."

"But-!"

"Legend, it's alright. I trust Twi, if he says Four is safe, then Four is safe. Though..." He shot a glare at Twilight. "That doesn't mean you should have gone off without telling anyone."

"I told Wild."

Wild hid behind him further. 

"And Wild refused to tell us where you went."

"I told him not to."

"Don't you think that defeats the point of telling someone where you went?"

"Twilight. Hyrule is gone. Four went missing. And then you leave, on your own, without letting anyone know where you went. Do you not see why this was a terrible idea?"

"...Yes, I do."

"Alright. Let's drop it, for now."

Wild leaned out from behind Twilight and glared at him.

"It's not my fault they came back early," Twilight whispered.

"You could have told me where exactly you went, though-"

"Did Four say when he'd come back...?"

"Once Cran is gone."

"Did he say why?" Legend huffed angrily, setting Cranberry back down into the water. 

"No, but... He wanted me to apologize to you for him."

"Oh, did he?" He rolled his eyes. "Sure he did."

"I mean it, he sounded genuinely sorry about yelling at you."

"Yeah, no."

"Legend, don't be difficult."

"It's not like he's here to be upset that I don't accept his apology."

"Legend."

"Whatever. It's the middle of the night, I'm on Cranberry duty now because someone isn't using their brain."

"Hey!"

__

Legend watched over Cranberry, who began to settle back into a slumber now that she was in his arms.

'Stupid Four... I don't want to have to say goodbye.'

Nothing happened the rest of the night, and the air in camp was less tense now that they knew Four was safe.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hey!! so. ive been super unmotivated to write recently, so the next update may be delayed. worry not, this fic (nor my other fics) arent being abandoned, my motiviation is just very fickle! please enjoy this chapter regardless <3

**Author's Note:**

> originally a lw, for those who were there. still being worked on, warning though that updates may be a bit infrequent, but this WILL be finished, eventually. what's already written will slowly be uploaded as to hopefully lessen the gap between updates for newcomers.
> 
> also this fic was/still is a birthday gift to woods! huge shout out to her, everyone go shower her fics in love because she's an amazing person and writer.


End file.
